ROCHESTER, NY -- Roc Brewing Co. makes craft beers in a small brewery near the Strong Museum in downtown Rochester. You can find its beer in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse, maybe even as far as Watertown and Niagara Falls.

This month, the Roc logo will appear on beer distributed nationwide, from Boston to San Diego, from Seattle to Miami.

"You're literally taking a tiny brewery and blowing them up nationally," said Chris Spinelli, who co-founded Roc at 56 S. Union St. in 2011. "It's exciting. And it's terrifying."

ThreeNinety Bock is a collaboration between Roc and the mighty Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams), one of the country's biggest craft breweries. It will be one of six beers featured in a new variety 12-pack that Sam Adams will release nationally at the end of July.

The 12-pack, called Brewing the American Dream, is part of a continuing effort by Sam Adams founder Jim Koch to promote and assist smaller brewers. In addition to Roc's ThreeNinety Bock, the package includes an IPA from Bosque Brewing of Albuquerque, N.M.; a porter from ChuckAlek Independant Brewers of Ramona, Calif; a saison from Woods Beer Co. of San Francisco; and a stout from Brewery Rickoli of Wheat Ridge, Colo. (the pack is rounded out with two bottles of Sam Adams' own Boston Lager).

Like Roc, each of the other brewers involved is small, with limited or local distribution. Each will get boosted name recognition -- and perhaps more business -- by being included. For each beer, the small brewer worked with Sam Adams to devise a recipe. The final beers were brewed at Sam Adams big production brewery in Cincinnati.

For Spinelli, the relationship with Sam Adams dates back to Roc's founding in 2011. At the time, Koch was looking for a way to help new breweries get off the ground, so they could better meet the challenges he had to overcome when he started up in the 1980s.

Roc became one of the first two breweries accepted into Sam Adams' Brewing the American Dream mentorship program. The crew from Roc was able to to visit the Sam Adams brewery in Boston, see how things were done and get both brewing and business advice.

The Brewing the American Dream 12-pack will be released this summer by Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams). It includes two bottles each of five beers made in collaboration with small local breweries, plus two bottles of Boston Lager., One of the small breweries in the collaboration is Roc Brewing Co. of Rochester, N.Y. Yellow Images

Roc also landed a $10,000 loan from Sam Adams in 2011, which it used to buy a keg washer. That may not sound like much, but without the keg washer Roc would not have been able to partner with Rochester's Rohrbach Brewing Co., where some of its beers were made in its early years.

Since its founding, Roc has boosted the size of its brewing system, and moved all of its production in-house. Spinelli hopes, eventually, to be able to sell his beer across New York state.

The mentoring relationship with Sam Adams is continuing, and it is helping. It also led to an earlier version of the ThreeNinety Bock, originally brewed in 2013 in Boston and packaged in just 10 barrels (or 20 kegs). That beer was available only at the Roc brewery, a few draft accounts in Rochester and at Sam Adams' home brewery in Boston.

ThreeNinety, according to Sam Adams, takes its name from the distance in miles between Rochester and Boston, though western New Yorkers will also recognize "390" as a highway in the Rochester area.

The beer itself is a Maibock, a strong lager-style beer, brewed with, among other things, smoked oats.

"The key characteristic are a nice caramel roastiness with a subtle hint of smoke," Spinelli said.

Spinelli said he's not sure exactly what the impact of having one of his beers available nationally, "but it's great that people I know around the country will be able to buy one of my beers."

He is looking to grow his business, though he admits it's not likely Roc will ever be as big as its mentor, Sam Adams.

"We've been fortunate enough to keep this relationship going," Spinelli said. "I can call when I need advice, talk to Jim (Koch), or to a brewer. It's been fantastic for us. We probably wouldn't be where we are now without them."

Sam Adams' Brewing the American Dream will be a limited release package, available at many major retailers at the end of July. It has a suggested retail price of $16.99 to 19.99 for a 12-pack.

This is the second time this year that an small Upstate New York beer-maker will be featured in a Sam Adams package. A homebrewer from Horseheads, near Elmira, had a beer included in the Long Shot homebrew contest this spring.